nThe Covid-19 crisis failed to dampen the spirit of the yoga enthusiasts as lakhs of women, men and children including school students from across the country observed the ‘International Day of Yoga’ (IDY) on Monday with great enthusiasm while adopting Covid-appropriate norms.
The craze to be part of the IDY was very much evident as videos of a group of patients donning PPE suits performing yoga exercises in the Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu and an ITBP jawan spreading out his mat in the snow to do a surya namaskar became viral on social media.
President Ramnath Kovind, who practiced Yoga on the lawns of Rashtrapati Bhavan, tweeted “Yoga is our ancestor’s vision of bringing mind-body together to achieve holistic health and happiness which has benefited millions over millennia”.
Vice President Venkaiah Naidu who performed yoga with his spouse, called it as one simple yet powerful practice that helps us build resilience and improves our health holistically.
Similarly, Union Ministers including Prakash Javadekar, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Prahlad Singh Patel, Smriti Zubin Irani, MA Naqvi and Ashwani Chowbey too joined several citizens in performing yoga at their residences or public places sending messages of importance of the yoga.
Ayush Minister Kiren Rijiju mentioned how Yoga is not just seen as a practice native to India, but India’s gift to the world, which has been accepted as their own by everyone while Road and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari participated in the programme ‘Yoga an Indian Heritage’ Campaign at Nagpur.” Amid Covid-19 pandemic which has caused havoc across the world, yoga is a ray of hope for all as it not only ensures physical well-being but also keeps us mentally fit in the stressful and anxious times,” Union Minister of Agriculture Narendra Singh
Tomar said at an event organized online by the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) while yoga guru Dr H R Nagendra, Chancellor of Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana (S-VYASA), Bengaluru shared that how yoga can help bring in mindfulness, self-awareness, and numerous other health benefits for people in rural areas where virus has caused devastation, infecting many and claiming numerous lives.NCDC MD Sundeep Nayak said yoga can help a person in becoming healthy, wealthy and wise even as officials from PSUs under Ministry of Power, National Thermal Power Corporation and NHPC Limited celebrated the Day across their power stations with full enthusiasm.
Chief Ministers, including Uttar Pradesh's Yogi Adityanath, Delhi's Arvind Kejriwal, Chhattisgarh's Bhupesh Baghel, Gujarat's Vijay Rupani and Madhya Pradesh's Shivraj Singh Chouhan, too sent out the same message.
The theme of this year’s Yoga Day was “Be With Yoga, Be At Home” in view of the pandemic situation.